Lower undergarment



June 27, 1939. i M, McDONALD 2,164,281

LOWER UNDERGARMENT June 27, 1939.

H. M. M DONALD LOWER UNDERGARMEN T Filed June 22, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 27, 1939 UNITED STATES LOWER UNDERGARMENT Herman M. McDonald, Eva'nston, 111., assignor to Mac Dee Company, a corporation of Illinois Application June 22, 1938, Serial No. 215,085

Claims. (-01. 128-159) The object of the present invention is to produce an undergarment oi the trunk type or of the types having legs whose lengths vary from those that are more or less rudimentary to those which 5 are relatively long which shall have an effectively reeniorced front portion, without. making it clumsy or uncomfortable.

In my prior Patent No. 2,114,268, I have disclosed a garment of this general character and,

viewed in one of its aspects, the present invention may be said to have for its object to improve the garment disclosed in the said patent.

A further object of the present invention is to produce a fly-closed opening in thefront of an undergarment, in a simple and novel way.

A still further object of the present invention is to produce an undergarment of novel construction in which the front portion is constructed so as to be elfectively reenforced, to lie smooth and unwrinkled upon the person of the wearer and, at the same time, provide a pouch-like configuration. I I

Another object of the present invention may be said to be to produce an undergarment, of

novel construction, and provide a. reenforced irgit section or panel which is effectively ventila (1.

The various features of novelty whereby m invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, where- 85 in: v Figure l is a front view of a garment, in a flattened condition, embodying the present inventlon; Fig. 2 is a section on a greatly enlarged.

scale, on line 22 of Fig. 1, showing only the front wall in the plane on which the section is taken; Fig, 3 is a view of the inner side of the front wall of the garment, only a fragment being shown, and a portion of one of the crotch pieces being broken away; Fig. 4 is an elevational view 46 of one of the crotch pieces before it is joined to the remaining portions of the garment; and Fig.

5 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a legless garment and ventilating means.

While the present invention relates'to under- 50 garments for enclosing the lower part of the torso ofthe wearer, the garments may be either of the legless or tfimk type or be provided with legsof any desired length. The style of garment shown in Fig. l is of the legged type, short or rudi- 55 mentary legs being illustrated, whereas in Fig. 5

the invention is disclosed as embodied in a legless garment.

Referring to Figs. '1 to 4 of the drawings, i represents the front portion of an undergarment provided with an elastic waist band 2 and with stretch'freely in the crosswise direction. As in 1 my aforesaid patent, means are provided to utilize the stretching capacity of thefabric to provide a definite central pouch-like piecein the vicinity of the crotch, the same being suspended directly from the waist band. Means are also provided to. produce a ily-closed opening of a'type that will cause the opening to remain effectively closed during the wearing of the garment.

In carrying out my invention, two strap-like reenforcing or suspending elements 4 and 5 extend from the transverse seam 6 at the crotch to the waist band; these elements being stitched to the front of the garment, along their edges, as indicated at l, The reenforcing elements do not extend straight up and down but cross each other. at a point much closer to the waist band than to the seam 6 to form a. letter X the lower not brought close together, but remain spaced .apart a considerable distance, say, two or three inches. v

The material forming the front of the garment is cut away in that area bounded by the seam B and the lower legs of the reenforcing or suspending straps. The opening thus formed is. closed by an insert which is wider than the piece that was cut out from the body of the garment; this insert being secured to the surrounding body portion of thefront of the garment by so-called fiatlock seams, as indicated at 8.

In order to provide a, fly-closed opening in the front of the garment, the insert to which I have just referred is composed of two pieces which are preferably duplicates of each other and so shaped that when they are superimposed upon each other, with corresponding surfaces facing each other, they forma compound piece of double thickness except for a short length and width at each side. Although the two pieces constituting the insert are alike, the outer one in the drawings is designated as 9 and the one on the inside as W. One of these pieces is shown on Fig. 4,

contour required for the complete insert.

separate from the garment but ready to be inserted. It. will be seen that this piece, designated as 9, has the same shape as the window bounded by the seam 6 at the lower legs of the crossed straps, except that the corner or shoulder along one side and toward the top is cut away; the edge thereby produced being suitably bound, as indicated at l2. It will be seen that when the piece shown in Fig. 4 is laid upon a similar piece that has been reversed so that the binding is on the righthand side instead of on the lefthand, as in Fig. 4, the second piece will fill out the I now, these two superimposed pieces are sewed into the window or opening in the garment, as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and each is secured to the body of the garment and to the straps or suspending elements by a seam that follows the symmetrical contour of the two-piece inset, the bound edges I! are left free and thus provide an opening which is adjacent to one of the straps or suspending elements on the outer side of the garment and bears the same relation to the other strap on the inner side. Consequently, when the garment is being worn, it is impossible for it to stretch laterally far enough to expose the skin of the wearer, although an adequate opening is available when needed.

The inset in the front of the garment may be of the same material as the body of the garment, or it may be formed from material having large holes in the same to provide ventilation. In Figs. 1 to 4 the inset is shown as being composed of the same material as the rest of the garment. In Fig. 5 there is illustrated a garment having a ventilating inset as a garment having no legs. In this construction, the two pieces II and I5, forming the inset, are just like the pieces 9 and I0, except that they are formed from open-work material or other fabric adapted to afford good ventilation. The garment itself is of the trunk type that has only the openings which, in the other form, places the legs in communication with the interior of the upper part of the garment; these openings being bound with suitable material, as indicated at it. It will be seen that the binding pieces l6 are spaced apart somewhat from the corresponding straps so that the fabric of the front wall of the garment extendsclear down to the crotch seam 6 between the lower legs of the straps and these binding pieces.

It should be noted that the two-piece inset in my improved garment does more than simply provide a ily-closed opening; for these pieces themselves serve to reenforce and strengthen the garment.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, with a few modifications, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A garment having a crotch and a waist, strap-like reenforcing elements extending from the crotch to the waist and secured to the front wall of the garment along their edges, said reenforcing elements forming an inverted U beginning at the crotch and reaching only part way to the waist; that portion of the front wall of the garment within the U being an inset composed of twoisimilar pieces each shaped to fill all of the space within the U except a long narrow area at one side and toward the top, said pieces overlying each other with corresponding faces engaged; whereby there is left an opening between each of the legs of the U and one of the inset pieces and each of said pieces serves as a fly for the opening left by the other:

2. A garment having a crotch and a waist, crossed strap-like reenforcing elements extending from the crotch to the waist and secured to the front wall of the garment along their edges, the lower ends of said reenforcing elements forming an inverted U beginning at the crotch and reaching more than half way to the waist, that portion of the front wall of the garment within the U being an inset composed of two similar pieces each shaped to fill all of the space within the U' except a long narrow area at one side and toward thetop, said pieces overlying each other with corresponding faces engaged; whereby there is left an opening between each of the legs of the U and one of the inset pieces, and each of said pieces serves as a fly for the opening left by the other.

3. A garment having a crotch and a waist and including a transverse seam at the crotch, straplike reenforcing elements extending from said seam to the waist and secured to the front wall of the garment along their edges, and an inset composed of two pieces overlying each other and producing a fly-closed' opening, said pieces extending upwardly from said seam and spanning 1 the distance between said reenforcing elements. 4. A garment having a crotch and a waist and containing a transverse seam at the crotch, strap-' like reenforcing elements each extending continuously from said seam to the waist and secured to'the front wall of the garment along their edges, and an inset composed of two pieces extending upwardly from the seam and each spanning the distance between said reenforcing elements, each of said pieces being secured tothe garment along their side edges except for a short distance to provide an opening leading into the spaces between said pieces, the opening afforded by the outer of said pieces being adjacent to one of said reenforcing elements and the opening produced by the other of said pieces beingadjacent to .the other of said reenforcing elements.

5. A garment having a crotch and a waist and containing a transverse seam at the crotch, straplike reeinforcing elements each extending continuously from the crotch to 'the waist and secured to the front wall of the garment along their edges, an inset in the front of the garment extending upwardly from said seam and spanning the distance between said reenforcing elements, said inset being composed of two similar pieces of fabric secured to the garment at their edges throughout the entire length of the inset except for a short distance so as to provide an inlet from the exterior of the garment into the 

